SXSW Report: How Zya Can Teach You About Usability and Conversion

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If you're into music, have children, or know anyone who fits either of those categories, you'll love Zya, the most impressive music-making system around.

What's impressive about Zya is the lessons it offers to every business about usability and online conversions.

At SXSW, I met with Music Mastermind Co-Founders Matt Serletic (who's also the previous CEO of Virgin Records) and Bo Bazylevsky. Their team they gave me a demo of Zya and explained how they think this site is going to reshape the art of making music. Intel is a big partner of Music Mastermind’s and will also be featuring Zya in the AppUp center. (The AppUp Center is Intel's online app store for Windows and MeeGo-based computers. You can read more about it over here. –Ed.)

Here's how the system works, and also how you can adapt it for your business.

Zya is a user interface that allows anyone, even people with zero musical ability, to create music. From hooks, to loops, to turning your voice into an instrumental melody, Zya’s advanced technology makes all the necessary adjustments that allow you to produce great music. The system's function is nothing short of extraordinary. It Auto-Tunes and adjusts for tempo on the fly while being super easy and fun to interact with.

The business applications are clear: Your website should be easy to interact with and create an enjoyable experience for your user.

From the moment you jump into Zya it's evident they spent ample time creating an intuitive environment. Your website is the portal to interacting with your current clients and future prospects. Having a website that's easy and intuitive will allow the user to get access to the information they want in a timely manner.

When is the last time you thought about the functionality of your website?

A few things to consider when designing a website like Zya: Your navigation should be user-friendly: The user shouldn't have to work to find information they need. Approach your navigation structure from the users' eyes and avoid the trap of creating a structure that fits what you want the user to experience. If you have analytics set up on your site, which you should, then put the pages that are most visited in the easiest to find locations on your navigation.

Big buttons, lots of white space, and easy-to-digest chunks: Large graphics and lots of white space allow users to quickly intake the information on your page. When you build a site that's created in large chunks, as opposed to lists, your users will be able to quickly select the information most useful to them.

Build interaction into your website: One example of this is using dynamic images like the ones you can create with the Lytro camera. Other examples are adding video to your home page or social-media interfaces. Think about creative ways to build in interaction that goes beyond reading text on a screen. If you can get your visitors to click and interact with your website you will see your conversions increase. This is also great for search ranking.

Basically, the main takeaway? Make things fun and easy if you want to dominate your market.

Jabez LeBret is the author of the Amazon No. 1 bestselling law office marketing book How to Turn Clicks Into Clients. As a partner at Get Noticed Get Found, a legal marketing agency, over the last nine years he has delivered over 800 keynote addresses in six countries. His main area of expertise is managing Gen Y in the workplace, advanced Facebook strategies, LinkedIn strategies, Google+, SEO, local directory optimization, and online marketing.